Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Price Target Lowered to $108.00 at TD Cowen

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) had its price target lowered by TD Cowen from $110.00 to $108.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on IONS. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.35.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.0%

IONS opened at $74.09 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $28.79 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.36 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $76.12 and a 200-day moving average of $77.13.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The business had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.66) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 126,670 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.20, for a total transaction of $9,525,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 242,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,248,182.40. This represents a 34.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total value of $7,056,430.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 80,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,658,698.49. This represents a 51.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 864,155 shares of company stock valued at $67,020,422 in the last ninety days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $27,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.